It looks like Mini will be partnering with Great Wall to develop another electric Mini for their home country. China wants to change the way its perceived in terms of pollution and electric mobility, and a recent decision claims that EV's sold in China, need to be built locally. With how quickly the EV segment is ramping up over there its not surprising to see them getting so many exclusive electric models. China is currently Mini's fourth largest market in the world, accounting for 35K cars annually.
Second EV planned by Mini, exclusively for Chinese market
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Mini is getting ambitious when their first EV isn't even out yet and they're already planning a second one. I assume the China only model will still share a platform with the global model, so whichever one we see first will be very similar to the other.
It'll probably be running a similar powertrain, but I can imagine that there is going to a significant difference in its styling. Hopefully they aren't stretching their resources two thin by launching two models at the same time. Progress has been pretty slow on the U.S bound model already.
Their production capacity shouldn't be stretched too far because Mini is partnering up with with Chinese automaker Great Wall Motor for the second EV. Auto Express says the second EV “will be a completely different proposition to the three-door MINI E.” So it could be based on a crossover or five door hatch?
As much as I hate that everything is getting "crossoverized", I actually think the Mini could do well on that platform, especially with an AWD system. Some would probably argue that the Clubman is already pretty crossover like, which I guess is true if it had a little more clearance.
I share the same thought
Never would have thought the Focus would be modified into a crossover, so its definitely possible for Mini to go that route. If they we're smart they would keep it all electric as well, as Hyundai seems to have delivered pretty good figures with the Kona EV.
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not hard to see that when these days example are all around us so much that it can be said Ford is a late adopter. If the likes of the Mercedes GLA can be a success, then Ford can in cheaper segments.
To be honest its a welcomed alternative to the Ecosport, which imo is lagging behind the other crossovers currently on the market. I don't know if you guys have seen the Scrambler Clubman concept, but it looks pretty crossoverish to me.
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Holy tamoley, China sales for BMW electric vehicles has gone up drastically this quarter compared to last year's first quarter. No wonder Mini plans to release another China specific model because it just makes business sense when looking at the BMW press release.
Yeah EV sales in China are exploding right now, and that's why we're seeing so many region specific models coming from all automakers. I am curious as to how many of these Chinese EV companies plan on exporting their cars here. I would imagine that they are substantially cheaper than what is currently available on our market.
There's always the issue with their reputation for poor quality, something that's hard to overcome especially in the automobile industry where safety and reliability is important. Even if the exclusive Mini EV doesn't go global, at least the technology developed for it could trickle down to other models.
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